Colchicum speciocum is a bulbous plant belonging to the family Liliaceae in the lily family. It has certain common names such as crocus, fall crocus, naked lay, wonder bulb, meadow saffron, vellorita, autumn crocus and wonder bulb. It is a plant that requires full to partial amount of sunlight. Colchicum is a beautiful plant growing surprisingly during the fall months. It is a beautiful plant that produces blooms of different color such as white, pink, purple, lilac. The blooms appear in the autumn with no leaves. The leaves start to show up in the spring. It grows up to 4-6 inches and spreads up to 4-12 inches. It has some special features too. It is a drought tolerant plant as well as a deer resistant plant. The corms of colchicum has medicinal implication. The chemical present in this plant directly affects our fluid balance, structure, stability and the lubrication of our body.

This plant has tuberous roots.There are around 160 species of colchicum and are mainly found in Europe, East Africa, South Africa, West Asia, Mediterrian coast, and in the Western Cape.

Leaves: The leaves of colchicum, like most of the other plants springs up in the spring season and dies back once the summer month starts to show up. The leaves appear up to 6-12 inches. The leaves of the colchicum is dark green. It is a smooth and broad leaf.

Flower: The colchicum gives out wonderful bloom that emerges in the autumn month. The flower appears in bright purple color.

Bulb: Colchicum bulbs are bitter and sweet in taste. Although it appears wrinkled and brownish, the inner part of this bulb is solid and white in color.

Planting guide: The best time to plant colchicum is during the late summer. Make sure that the soil is well drained and receives full to part sunlight. You are advised to provide some compost manure for the better growth of the plant. It is good that you leave a gap of 6 to 12 inches and plant it 4 to 6 inches deep into the soil.

During the process of planting, you need to put a handful of compost manure into the soil hole before you plant the bulb. Provide enough watering in the evening and in the morning. This plant is prone to snails and slugs, so, in order to keep the plant free from the harmful agents, you are suggested to make use of beer trap. The other wise ways of keeping the plant safe from prey is to spread seashells, crushed oyster and making use of the iron phosphate organic is also a good and useful method.

You can divide the bulbs during the mid-summer months: it is the time when the bulbs are in dormant stage.

You are also wisely suggested to plant some other plants along with the colchicum. You can plant it in the midst of perennial flowers or even shrubs. It appears beautiful when planted in the lawn, walkways, borders etc.

Uses:There are several uses related to the colchicum plant. It has the property to reduce white blood cells and has been widely used in the treatment of gout, refractory constipation, osteoarthritis of knee, inflammatory disorder, cirrhosis etc. The doses to be used must be consulted with a doctor.

Side effect: You are likely to suffer from diarrhoea, reversible mal-absorption syndrome etc upon the use of colchicum. The side effect is mild in the beginning with stomach upset and after few days, signs of blood clot and respiratory arrest occur causing paralysis to death.

Caution: You need to be careful not to be lured by the beauty this plant; it contains some harmful to toxic substances called colchicine and colchiceine. One of the most important caution to be noted is, the bulb of this plant resembles garlic and consumption of the bulb has even led to death. It leads to slow death from kidney, heart and liver failure.

These substances are toxic and are taken to be poison when consumed without the doctor's subscription.

Upon carelessly consuming this plant can lead to dangerous problems such as cardiovascular collapse, blood clots, multi organ failure, muscular weaknesses, convulsions and eventually leading to paralysis com respiratory arres.